Monday, 20 November 2017

20th November 2017 Wild Sumaco Lodge

We awoke to steady rain but Alan Wilkinson kindly pointed out a pair of Gorgeted Woodstars found by his guide, Byron, feeding on a plant originally brought to Ecuador from Central America by birders knowing how Hummingbirds enjoy feeding on the flowers! Once the rain had eased we walked the Coopmans Trail that produced four noisy Military Macaws. Although a prolonged watch of the Hummingbird feeders behind the Research Centre produced 2 Napo Sabrewings there was no sign of a Gould's Jewelfront that sometimes also attends. In the early afternoon we decided to walk the F.A.C.E. trail again but it soon started to rain heavily. Luckily there is a shelter along the loop trail so we decided to sit out the rain there. We soon found ourselves in the midst of a thunderstorm. Almost unbelievably, given the area of forest all around, there was a large crack of lightning directly above us that caused a huge tree limb to fall directly onto the metal roof of our shelter! Fortunately the roof held in place, no harm was done, but a fortunate escape with what effectively amounted to a direct hit! The heavy rain continued and it became increasingly dark under the grey clouds so we really had no option but to walk back to the lodge in the rain, and with little associated wind, our umbrellas did a good job of keeping us relatively dry! The rain continued unabated and was torrential throughout the evening.